CHDS’ Zachary Ward discussed both the progress and challenges in meeting the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in reducing mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCD) in a recent invited commentary in The Lancet. The commentary was in accompaniment to a Lancet article estimating SDG progress between 2001 and 2019. The estimates revealed large differences in non-communicable disease mortality by both country and sex, with uneven progress.
Due to data limitations, the estimates only cover 2010-2019 and consequently do not include the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ward emphasized the interconnectedness of non-communicable disease and infectious diseases and the need to understand the long-term effects of COVID-19 on outcomes. He also considered the feedback loops between these categories of diseases and encouraged a holistic, integrated view of population health to inform policy. Lastly, Ward discussed disease modeling and stressed the dependence of all models on good empirical data, highlighting the need for continued investments to sustain and expand population-based data systems.
Learn more: Read the full commentary, Estimating Trends in Non-Communicable Disease Mortality: Implications for Global Health Data and Policy Research
Learn more: Read the accompanying article, Benchmarking Progress in Non-Communicable Diseases: A Global Analysis of Cause-Specific Mortality from 2001-2019
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